Adjustable supporting surfaces



1965 c E. GINGHER E TAL 3,203,374

ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING SURFACES Original Filed July 29, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig] CARL E. GINGHER CARL'E-6/NGHER,d/

A'ITORNEYS 1965 c. E. GINGHER ETAL 3,203,374

ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING SURFACES Original Filed July 29, 1958 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS CARL E. G/NGHER CARL E. Gl/VGHER,r/R.

BYWA MM/ ATTORNEY5 1965 c. E. GINGHER ETAL 3,203,374

ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING SURFACES Original Filed July 29, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 16 5o O 22 F/QJI o 2/ 2/ CARL E, G/NGHER CARL E. GINGHERMR ATTORNEY5 United States Patent 3,203,374 ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING SURFACES Carl E. Gingher and Carl E. Gingher, Jr., Scranton, Pa., assignors to Gingher Manufacturing (30., Scranton, Pa.

Original applications July 29, 1958, Ser. No. 751,799, now

Patent No. 3,014,596, dated Dec. 26, 1961, and Oct. 14,

1960, Ser. No. 62,765, now Patent No. 3,100,572, dated Aug. 13, 1963. Divided and this application Feb. 5,

1963, Ser. No. 256,436

4 Claims. (Cl. 108-144) The present invention relates to all-purpose adjustable metallic supporting surfaces, more particularly, to up rights, shelf and bracket structures which may be readily assembled into various arrangements to provide adjustable shelving, table surfaces, and work tops for numerous operations as may be desired. This application is a division of Ser. No. 62,765, filed October 14, 1960, now US. Patent No. 3,100,572, and Ser. No. 751,799, filed July 29, 1958, and issued as US. Patent 3,014,596.

Although previously, various shelving arrangements were provided, invariably all of these arrangements were characterized by requiring cross braces in order to impart a rigidity to the structure. If cross braces were not employed, the shelf and bracket structures were invariably of complex and cumbersome design in order to adequately support heavy loads thereon. Further, these shelving arrangement were specifically designed as shelves to be used as shelving, namely, for the storage of goods. They were so constructed that when once erected, they could not be readily changed into diiferent shapes as their requirements might desire. Hence, these previous arrangements were not adaptable or versatile for uses other than as shelving. Most of the prior art shelving arrangements were intended as permanent installations. In addition, the complexity of some of the bracket and shelf arrangements was such that it was difficult and time-consuming to erect these structures. Furthermore, the erection of these shelving arrangements required the use of skilled workmen and with special tools.

A problem also arose where it was desired to support a number of shelves from a single common upright. This supporting arrangement in most instances involved complicated brackets, shelf and upright arrangements. These brackets could not be secured to any corner of an upright but usually were designed for mounting on a specific surface of the upright. Thus, there was lacking a simple arrangement for attaching four shelf corners to a single vertical upright using detachable brackets of a simple structure.

Those few arrangements which porvided for the attachment of shelves to a common upright usually required different brackets for securing the outer edges of the shelves than for securing the inner corners of the shelves to the common upright. The necessity for these specialized brackets increased the cost of the structure and the time consumed in erecting the shelving arrangement.

It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide strong, versatile, all-purpose supporting surfaces.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved supporting surface arrangement whereby the surface can be utilized as shelves, work tables, desks, steps, cat-walks, pallets and the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a supporting surface arrangement which eliminates cross braces but which is strong, rigid, and can be readily assembled and, if desired, disassembled.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a supporting surface arrangement comprising uprights and shelves detachably secured to uprights by brackets.

3,203,374 Patented Aug. 31, 1965 Other objects and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent upon reference to the accompanying description and the following drawings, wherein- FIGURE 1 is an over-all perspective view of the supporting surface arrangement of this invention showing the arrangement utilized as shelving and work surfaces;

FIGURE 2 is an over-all perspective view of the vertical upright employed in the supporting surface arrangement;

FIGURE 3 is an over-all perspective view of a modified form of the vertical upright illustrated in FIGURE 2, wherein a double row of holes are used to permit the assembly of units back-to-back;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view looking at the under surface of a shelf;

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view taken across the lines 5--5 of FIGURE 4 and showing the reinforcing strips on the under surface of the shelf;

FIGURE 6 is an over-all perspective view of a corner support bracket;

FIGURE 7 is an over-all perspective view of a flat shelf which is a modification of the shelf shown in FIG- URE 4;

FIGURE 8 is an over-all perspective view of a corner bracket utilized on the flat shelf illustrated in FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is an over-all perspective view of a partial corner bracket used to support the flat shelf of FIGURE 7 from a vertical upright;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view looking at the under surface of a shelf to illustrate the manner in which the shelf is attached to the bracket, which in turn is attached to an upright;

FIGURE 11 is an over-all perspective view of a modified shelf corner supporting bracket;

FIGURE 12 is an over-all perspective view showing the manner in which four brackets are secured to the corners of a vertical upright in order to permit the securing of fourseparate shelf corners to a single vertical upright; and

FIGURE 13 is a top plan view of the ends of adjacent shelves showing the slot therebetween.

The invention essentially comprises a supporting surface arrangement wherein the shelves are secured to square vertical uprights by brackets which are detachably secured to corners of the uprights. The shelves embody various structural features which enable the shelves to support considerable weight even when unevenly distributed upon the shelf surface. Various modifications of the bracket are also disclosed for particular applications. The shelf may be either spot welded to the bracket or a special shelf may be used with a particular form of bracket.

A further feature of this invention is the manner in which the shelves are reinforced so that the shelves are able to sustain a considerably greater load than conventional reinforced metallic shelves. The specific configuration of the reinforcing strips, the arrangement of the reinforcing strips on the under surface of the shelves, and the manner in which the reinforcing strips are spot welded to the surfaces of the shelves all contribute to provide a shelf which will sustain up to 300% greater load applied to the center of the shelf. Since these novel shelves can support greater loads and are free from buckling even when forces are applied on the edges of the shelves, the shelves may be used in many installations where heavy loads are to be supported but where it is desired that the shelf remains perfectly level and does not bend. An example of such an installation is in supporting high grade printing paper where it is desired the paper remain perfectly flat without any curvature therein even when resting upon a shelf for a long time. If there is any curving of the shelf due to the load of paper thereon, this curvature will be imparted to the paper. Such curved fine printing papers are undesirable in high grade printing operations.

For a description of a specific embodiment of this invention, reference is made to FIGURE 1 wherein an overall shelving arrangement has been assembled to form shelves 1 and a work table 2. The arrangement comprises a plurality of vertical uprights of various lengths dependent upon the use of a particular portion of the arrangement. Brackets 4 are detachably secured to the uprights 3, and shelves 5 have the brackets attached to the corners thereof by spot welding.

Proceeding next to FIGURE 2, there is illustrated an upright 3 which comprises square tubing formed from cold-rolled steel. There is a single row of holes 6 on opposed sides of the upright. Holes n the opposed sides are in alignment with each other. These holes are regularly spaced and here are shown approximately three inches apart, although any other regular spacing may be employed.

A modified form of the upright is illustrated at 7 in FIGURE 3 in that it comprises a double row of holes illustrated at 8. The upright 7 is used where it is desired to assemble units back-to-back in a manner which will be presently described.

The shelf is illustrated in FIGURE 4 and is formed from ZO-gauge sheet steel. The shelf comprises a top 9, longitudinal edges 10, and transverse edges 11. All of the edges are rolled under to form underturned lip or terminal flanges 12. The use of the underturned lips 12 will increase the stretch of the shelf by 60% over a shelf merely having edges with no such underturned lips 12. The corners of the shelf are removed or left open, as indicated at 13, to form square corner notches. The shelf is preferably reinforced on its longitudinal edges by W- strips 14. The W-strips 14 are spot welded to the top and edge surfaces of the shelf 5 by a pair of parallel rows of oblong-shaped or dash spot welds which are arranged in staggered relationship to each other. The spot welds are so staggered that one weld in one row overlaps the space between successive welds in the adjacent row of welds. The parallel rows of spot welds are comparable to stitches and can be easily applied with welding machinery particularly made for this application.

In addition, the W-strips may be welded to the shelves by parallel rows of continuous spot welds.

Further, the spot welds may also be round as made by ordinary tips or any other shape but are still positioned in a pair of parallel rows with the welds being staggered.

If greater strength is desired, more than a pair of parallel rows may be employed. Three, four, or even more parallel rows of staggered elongated spot welds may be used.

It has been found that the combination of the W-reinforcing strip together with the spot weld impart a considerably greater strength to the shelves than is the case when the W-strips are welded to the shelves merely by widely spaced spot welds. The combination of the W- strips attached in the manner described above, together with the lip 12, prevents any buckling of the shelf '5 when heavy loads are applied either to the longitudinal edges of the shelves or to the center of the shelf.

Also, when shelves are used in the shelving arrangement as described herein, the personnel are in the habit of using the shelves for steps. By reinforcing the longitudinal edges of the shelves as described above the shelves are considerably strengthened and repeated use as steps will not weaken or bend the shelves.

In addition, it has been found that these shelves will carry heavy loads of materials for long periods of time without the shelf becoming bowed in the center due to the weight of loads. This is an important feature when goods are stored on the shelves wherein the goods are required to be without any curvature therein.

With reference to FIGURE 5 it can be seen that the W- strip 14 has a central portion 74 which has a right angle therein. On each end of the central portion are legs '75 which also extend at right angles from the end of the central portion. Thus all of the angles in the W-strip are right angles or close approximations thereof and the legs are of substantially the same width as each of the sections comprising the central portion 74.

The use of the W-reinforcing strip provides 300% more strength on the edges over angle or channel reinforcing members. These W-strips are usuahy applied on the front edges but may also be applied along the front and rear longitudinal edges or along all four edges of the shelf.

Intermediate braces 15 which are of U-shaped crosssection are spot welded to the under surface of a shelf in a longitudinal direction thereof. These braces stop short of the transverse ends of the shelf. The cross-section of the braces is substantially that of a channel 15 with flanges 15 and is illustrated in FIGURE 5. The flanges 15 of the channel 15 may also be spot welded to the under surface of the top of the shelf by parallel rows of staggered spot welds or continuous welds described previously in connection with the W-strips 14. The use of the W-reinforcing strips and the intermediate braces reinforces the shelves to permit them to readily support unevenly distributed loads.

The bracket 4 is illustrated in FIGURE 6 and is essentially a shelf corner support which is formed in one piece from sheet metal. The bracket comprises arms 16 and 17 which extend at right angles to each other. Each arm is essentially in the shape of a right-triangle with the longer sides forming the right angle being adjacent each other. A groove 18 which is of square corner cross section is formed at the intersection of the bracket arms 16, 17. The groove comprises faces 19 and 20, each of which has a series of spaced holes 21 therein which are approximately one inch apart. The depth of each face of the groove is substantially one-half the width of the vertical upright, as illustrated in FIGURE 2. This arrangement of the holes on both faces of the groove, together with the particular relationship between the depth of the groove and the Width of the square upright, enables a bracket to be secured to one corner of an uprighthaving double rows of holes therein.

Each of the arms has an indentation 22 therein, and each edge of an arm, which is essentially the hypotenuse of the triangle, is rolled under, as illustrated at 23 in FIGURES 9 and 10. The lip of the indentation shown at 24 supports the bottom of the shelf edge. The arms of the bracket are spot welded to the edges of the shelf. As a result, the shelf is supported on the bracket both mechanically and electrically, namely, mechanically by the lip of the indentation and electrically by the spot welding. The use of the mechanical support comprising the lip adds about 7% more support for the shelf.

The above described elements constitute the basic components of the shelving arrangement of this invention. Various modifications of each of these elements are possible for specific purposes. Several of these purposes will be described.

Proceeding to FIGURE 7, there is shown .at 25' a flat shelf which is a modification of the shelf illustrated in FIGURE 4. The flat shelf is primarily used when it is desired .to ship the shelves flat without any projecting brackets. This would most likely be done when the buyer of the shelving arrangement orders a sufiicient quantity of shelves so that shipping infiat bundles would result in a considerable saving in freight charges.

The flat shelf similarly comprises a top 26 and edges 27, each of which has a rolled under lip 28. Similarly the corners are removed so as to form square notches 29. A corner bracket 30, as shown in FIGURE 8, is spot welded at each corner of the flat shelf. The bracket 36 comprises a pair of arms 31 and 32 which extend outwardly from each other at a right angle and have a height which is substantially the same as the height of the shelf edge. Each arm has a flange 33 along its top edge. Similarly, there is a groove 34 having a square corner cross section formed by the intersection of the arms 31 and 32. This groove has faces 35 and 36, each of which has a hole 37 therein. There is a short flange 38 on the top end of the groove, which flange serves to cover the space between the end of the lip and the bracket. The arms of the bracket are then spot welded to the edges of the shelves. This corner bracket serves both to reinforce the shelf and as a spacer element, since it can be seen that in a regular bracket as shown in FIGURE 6, the arms are adjacent the edges of the shelf and hence do not permit adjacent shelves to be in contact with each other.

Illustrated in FIGURE 9 is a partial corner bracket 39 which is used to support the fiat shelf 25 from a vertical upright. The bracket 39 also comprises triangularly shaped arms 41 which extend outwardly from each other to form a right angle. Also there is a groove 42 which is of square corner cross section and comprises faces 43 and 44, each of which has a series of spaced holes 45 therein. These holes are spaced substantially one inch apart. There is a flange 46 on the top end of the groove. Further, each of the arms has a top flange 47 with an upturned lip 48.

'In assembling the partial corner bracket 39 with the flat shelf 25, the under-turned lips on the edges of a corner of the shelf are positioned upon the bracket and the upturned lips 48 on the bracket are bent over the lips of the shelf to secure the partial bracket to the shelf corner. This arrangement is illustrated in FIGURE 10.

A further modification of the shelf corner supporting bracket is shown in FIGURE 11. This modified bracket 49 is used when it is desired to store square items on the shelves and it is desired that the entire front of each shelf be open. This bracket 49 is similar in all respects to the bracket illustrated in FIGURE 6 except that a portion of one arm is removed, as shown at 50, to provide a strap arm .16. Thus, when the bracket 49 is secured to the edge of the shelf, the removed portion 50 enables the entire front of the shelf to be open.

Proceeding next to FIGURE 12, there is illustrated the arrangement by which four shelves may be secured to a single upright. In this arrangement, an upright 51 has a bracket 52 attached to each corner thereof. The upright is of the two-hole type as illustrated in FIGURE 3. All of the brackets 52 are similar. A single bolt is used to secure a pair of brackets to the upright. This bolt passes through a hole in one of the bracket grooves, through the aligned holes in the upright, and through the hole in the groove of another bracket. Although not illustrated in this figure, the shelves are then attached to the brackets, and the result is a very simple and effective arrangement for attaching four shelf corners to a single vertical upright.

All of the elements of the supporting surface arrangement as described above may be finished in any desired manner, such as by applying a coating of baked enamel which may be of any desired color.

It is pointed out that an assembled supporting surface arrangement such as illustrated in FIGURE 1 has a builtin fire resistant feature. When a plurality of shelves are assembled in an arrangement, none of the shelf edges are in contact with each other. As can be seen in FIG- URE 13, the edges of the shelves are spaced from each other by the width of two bracket arms. This spacing arrangement will form a slot 53 between adjoining edges of the shelves. In actual tests with a sprinkler system, it was found that when the system began operating, the water poured through the slots to form curtains of water between the adjoining edges of shelves. This curtain of water effectively prevented fires from spreading from one shelf to another and also permitted the access of water to the lower shelves and under portions of the shelving of the supporting surface arrangement. As a result of this fire-resistant feature, it is possible for users of the supporting surface arrangement to obtain reduced fire coverage rates.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions, and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A supporting surface arrangement for providing a fire resistant adjustable shelving structure comprising a plurality of shelves fitted together and adjustably supported by vertical uprights, said shelves consisting of a shelf having corner portions with a right angled notch at each of said corner portions, a vertical upright, square in cross-section, positioned in said right angled notch at each of said corner portions, the longitudinal edges of said notches terminating substantially medially of the respective adjacent sides of said uprights, means comprising a bracket of corresponding right angular shape in cross-section and disposed between said shelves and upright and positioned in said right angular notch, said bracket means having arms extending at right angles to each other and engaging and extending along the adjacent sides of said shelves at their corner edges in supporting relation thereto, and detachable means for securing said bracket means to the upright positioned in said right angled notch, said adjoining shelves being spaced apart by said bracket arms to provide a slot opening therebetween for the passage of fire extinguishing fluid.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein the arms of adjacent brackets are in face-to-face contact, and wherein the said slot has a width equal to the combined thickness of said face contacting brackets.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein one of the vertical uprights is centrally positioned with respect to a plurality of shelves, and said centrally positioned upright having four brackets detachably secured thereto with the adjacent arms thereof in face contacting relation.

4. In a knockdown shelf construction, a pair of similar sections having sides arranged side-by-side and in tandem with an adjacent pair, vertically adjustable means for supporting said sections horizontally in slightly spaced relation, said means comprising vertical uprights, square in cross-section, having removable brackets secured thereto, each bracket having a right angled portion fitting against a corner of said upright, each of said sections at their adjacent corners, medially of the adjacent ends of said pairs, having a right angled notch forming a square shaped opening therethrough, said upright and angled portions thereon received in said opening in contacting relation with the walls thereof, the adjacent edges of said brackets having right angularly extending face contacting support arms forming shelf supporting members, and one of said members extending between the opposed sides of adjacent shelves and supporting them in spaced relation whereby a slot is formed between the section for drainage purposes.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,083,956 1/14 Thomson 2l9-83 1,668,523 5/28 Bentley 29-4705 1,933,772 11/33 Stresau 220- X 2,444,833 7/48 Lampert 29-45 8 3,014,596 12/61 Gingher et a1. 108114 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SUPPORTING SURFACE ARRANGEMENT FOR PROVIDING A FIRE RESISTANT ADJUSTABLE SHELVING STRUCTURE COMPRISNG A PLURALITY OF SHELVES FITTED TOGETHER AND ADJUSTABLY SUPPORTED BY VERTICAL UPRIGHTS, SAID SHELVES CONSISTING OF A SHELF HAVING CORNER PORTIONS WITH A RIGHT ANGLED NOTCH AT EACH OF SAID CORNER PORTIONS, A VERTICAL UPRIGHT, SQUARE INCROSS-SECTION, POSITIONED IN SAID RIGHT ANGLED NOTCH AT EACH OF SAID CORNER PORTIONS, THE LONGITUDIAL EDGES OF SAID NOTCHES TERMINATING SUBSTANTIALLY MEDIALLY OF THE RESPECTIVE ADJACENT SIDES OF SAID UPRIGHTS, MEANS COMPRISING A BRACKET OF CORRESONDING RIGHT ANGULAR SHAPE IN CROSS-SECTION AND DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID SHELVES AND UPRIGHT AND POSITIONED IN SAID RIGHT ANGULAR NOTCH, SAID BRACKET MEANS HAVING ARMS EXTENDNG AT RIGHT ANGLES TO EACH OTHER AND ENGAGING AND EXTENDNG ALONG THE ADJACENT SIDES OF SAID SHELVES AT THEIR CORNER EDGES IN SUPPORTING RELATION THERETO, AND DETACHABLE MEANS FOR SECURING SAID BRACKET MEANS TO THE UPRIGHT POSITIONED IN SAID RIGHT ANGLED NOTCH, SAID ADJOINING SHELVES BEING SPACED APART BY SAID BRACKET ARMS TO PROVIDE A SLOT OPENING THEREBETWEEN FOR THE PASSAGE OF FIRE EXTINGUISHING FLUID. 